Vampires that made headlines.

[Ron Caliburn]

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/vampires/15.html?sect=3

Lots of evidence of vampires and nutjobs here. How many are real, how many are just idiots?

I bet D-bunk and Nicky have the wrong answer.

[Ron Caliburn]

I suppose it's been too long for there to be any evidence, but who knows what we can turn up.

Although it's generally vampires who are considered deadly, those who hunt them down can be just as lethal, as the following modern-day stories reveal.

In Australia, Shane Chartres-Abbott, 28, was executed in his home in June 2003. He was a male prostitute, and apparently his killers were a pair of hit men. Chartres-Abbott was on trial for rape, and just as its fifth day was about to commence, he was found murdered. At the trial, he claimed he was a vampire, and among the charges was that, during the rape, he had bitten off the tongue of a female client. He also said he drank people's blood. The identity of the suspects is still unknown, but the speculation is that they were hired either by the victim or by clients who feared being exposed. In any event, that supposed vampire was stopped.

Across the world, in Blantyre, Malawi, a small nation in southeastern Africa, government officials were faced with an epidemic of rumors that vampires were attacking several different settlements, according to The New York Times. In early December 2002, some villagers beat a man to death on the suspicion that he was a vampire, others attacked three Roman Catholic priests passing through, while another contingent destroyed the tent encampment for an aid group drilling wells for drinking water. They believed it was the headquarters for the vampires.

Apparently the rumors began when President Bakili Muluzi made a bargain to trade human blood assistance for food to mitigate the severe hunger crisis. People thought the government was in collusion with vampires, sending the vampires out to collect the blood. Officials were then sent out to target villages to calm these fears and demonstrate that there are no vampires. But that did not stop villagers from taking the defensive, perhaps because they already felt so defenseless against hunger and AIDS. Some had also heard about people being attacked by vampires, so the government's reassurances were unconvincing. Apparently the aid group had sprayed something into the air that adversely affected one woman, so she had beat a drum to alert others to the danger, and they had run out and retaliated. Eventually the region settled down.

While some people kill vampires outright, others just take precautions.

In 2002, Nicolae Mihut, living in Transylvania, believed that his mother, who had just died, had become a vampire. A local priest had warned him about the signs: a cat had jumped over her coffin that day, and her cheeks and lips were quite red. Mihut knew that, to release her soul, he had to stab her with a silver knife, either in the chest or the stomach. So he plunged the dagger into her heart. He knew he had done the right thing when he heard a long sigh escape her. Then she became pale. That made everyone involved feel better, and she was buried.

More recently in Martotinu de Sus, Romania, a village of some 300 people southwest of Bucharest, a relative of Toma Petre exhumed his body from the grave, removed his heart to burn, and mixed the ashes with water. He then gave it to three people to drink. It was a routine ritual for that town for slaying suspected vampires, but then something unintended occurred.

The police got involved. They heard about it and they came to investigate. It seems that slaying vampires in that area is illegal. It was considered, according to journalist Matthew Scofield for The Philadelphia Inquirer, an incident of "re-killing."

But the dead man's relatives could not understand. They believed that, by killing this vampire and making certain he could not rise from his grave, they had saved lives the vampire was trying to take. Yet the Romanian police say that, since vampires are mythological creatures, what the Petre relatives had done was a form of corpse abuse known as disturbing the peace of the dead. That carried a three-year stint in prison.

In addition, if this case was so routine for this family, others in the area were probably doing something similar, so a wider investigation was called for. In fact, other villagers acknowledged to reporters that it was occurring quite frequently, not just there but in other villages. Apparently they believed that most families at one time or another had engendered at least one vampire, and they had learned from childhood how to defend themselves.

One can tell when someone has become a vampire, according to their ideas, by digging up the coffin and checking the body's position. It may have rolled to the side, in which case the person could not have been dead. In addition, there will be no decomposition, but bloody fluid will be present around the mouth.

Once a vampire has risen from the grave to feed on the living, he or she must be stopped. That is, the heart must be removed, burned, mixed with water and given to relatives who have fallen ill.
In this case, after Petre was buried, three of his relatives grew ill. Upon opening the grave and coffin, Petre was found on his side, with blood on his mouth. Once the heart was burned--and it allegedly sang as it was trapped and decimated--those who were ill grew better, which was proof enough that they had done the right thing.

Whether it's murder or corpse abuse, people who fear supernatural monsters may act out in whatever way seems necessary for protection. To them it's not a crime.

[Ron Caliburn]

Didn't you read the article, at the end, the corpse had moved after death and it's mouth was full of blood.

It's heart sang as it was burned.

[Deacon Ash-Shaytan]

Didn't you read the article, at the end, the corpse had moved after death and it's mouth was full of a bloody fluid.

It's heart allegedly sang as it was burned.

Fixed it for you, sir. Speaking my own mind, I don't see what the problem is if relatives want to treat their dead with disrespect or not. after all, to them it was showing respect.

[A. Pendragon]

Didn't you read the article, at the end, the corpse had moved after death and it's mouth was full of a bloody fluid.

It's heart allegedly sang as it was burned.

Fixed it for you, sir. Speaking my own mind, I don't see what the problem is if relatives want to treat their dead with disrespect or not. after all, to them it was showing respect.

Finally something I agree with from you.

[Ron Caliburn]

Don't. Ever. Put. Words. Into. My. Mouth. Like. That. Again. Ever.

[GhostSpider]

Well, there goes that peace and quiet we had going.

[Holister]

{Groan} Yeah, its lasted less than a week.

[KonThaak]

Deacon: The article said it was blood. Ron quoted the article, which said it was blood. Don't be a dick. The fact that you have a good point doesn't detract from the fact that you're acting like a dick by mis-quoting Ron, and acting like he's mis-quoting the article...

Vampires or not, I *do* agree with Deacon (even if it means a bunch of people in Hell just got ice water). If it brings their minds peace, who are their legislators to say it's wrong, and deserves jail-time? Especially since the law apparently wasn't made especially public, since the offender didn't even realize it was illegal (at least that's the implication I get from the article)...

[GhostSpider]

It definitely is not unheard of a body spontaneously moving after death, or emitting body fluids from the orifices.

The first one is always creepy, and I've got used to the second. It's just what happens when all muscle tension goes away.

[Sophoroto]

I can't believe I am defending Deacon.

Mr. Caliburn was quoting one section and I believe Deacon assumed it to be the paragraph prior to the one Mr. Caliburn quoted.

Honest mistake on Deacon's part I would hope.

[Ron Caliburn]

No Sophoroto, it was intentional. You see that sort of thing on a lot of other messageboards as a way to undercut a person's argument or point.

It's rather underhanded and if someone chose to put words into my mouth like that in person, I would put my fist into theirs.

[Outlaw]

Man Deacon you are a real as-hat, I don't care who you are or where you work that is just plain wrong. If a man wants to believe the news article then let him. I know you will never see the truth, it can walk up bite you in a-s and you'll rationalize it away as a nut job. If that is what you want to believe please do, hell I am proud of you and respect that you can stand so firm in your belief.
But... (always one of these in a post eh?) DO NOT ram your belief down any one else's throat. I posted some stuff that will get you calling me a nut or worse, I can live with that. Don't stomp on a man or lady's right to express them selves here. If you don't agree with the story ask intelligent questions, not try and change some one's statement. That is the problem with the media today. I apologize if I broke any rules, and Deacon I apologize to you for the harsh language. Some times we have to get hit with a hammer to see that we have our heads where the sun don't shine.

Outlaw.

[Deacon Ash-Shaytan]

That coming from a guy that calls himself "Outlaw."

Ron Caliburn misquoted, and I fixed it for him. You guys can't assume "allegedly" means "IT HAPPENED! I SAW IT!" Unless you want to destroy your entire case, especially if the "allegedly" proves false.

I'm not stomping over anything. If a guy wants to quote an article, the point comes across stronger if he quotes it right. It said, for the corpses, there was bloodlike fluid. With Solomon Grundy (aka, Shane Chartres-Abbott, aka, the dead guy) it said blood. I'll concede to that. But it said his heart "allegedly" sang. Caliburn left out that little detail.

[Sophoroto]

In this case, after Petre was buried, three of his relatives grew ill. Upon opening the grave and coffin, Petre was found on his side, with blood on his mouth. Once the heart was burned--and it allegedly sang as it was trapped and decimated--those who were ill grew better, which was proof enough that they had done the right thing.

Why don't you read the entire article again this is the part Mr. Caliburn was quoting. Get off your high horse and be a civil human being. If you don't open your eyes you will never see the truth.

[Ron Caliburn]

You didn't fix a misquote, you put words in my mouth.


Never do that again.

[Logan]

Shaytan, at this point I do not merely question your objectivity, but also your journalistic integrity.

You are resorting to the same sort of misquoting that tabloids use to smear their victims. I had expected a legitimate debunking from you, pointing to the lack of anything other than heresay evidence on any of said cases.

Another problem with the story, as any hunter who has dealt with bloodsuckers should have noticed. When you expose a vampire to sunlight, they ash - the corpses involved in the above stories were not dissolved into ash when exposed.

These stories are actually quite excellent examples of why such nasties should be kept away from the public eye.

In early December 2002, some villagers beat a man to death on the suspicion that he was a vampire, others attacked three Roman Catholic priests passing through, while another contingent destroyed the tent encampment for an aid group drilling wells for drinking water. They believed it was the headquarters for the vampires

. Think of how much more frequent these misidentifications would happen if the public were to be informed about the supernatural.

[KonThaak]

I disagree. The people are applying out-of-date local mythologies and urban legends. If they were properly educated, the tragedies you quoted wouldn't've happened.

[Ron Caliburn]

Precisely, if the people knew how to clearly identify and defend themselves against a supernatural attack (or at least there was specific training in such for the standard first responders, we'd avoid such tragedies.

It would also cut down on the casualties amoung first responders who show up for those "there's somehting in my house" calls